07-07-2016, 12:42 PM
Geochem:
"I understand that a lot of people bought in Puna because the lots were/are cheaper. My response to that is: if they couldn't afford to purchase a more expensive home outside of a high lava flow hazard zone, can those same people any more afford to lose their home to a lava flow in the "less expensive" area?"
Those expensive properties in Hilo and Kona are also on live volcanoes, so they are also at risk. Take your pick, Kilauea, Mauna Loa or Hualalai, any of them is ripe for eruption and West side eruptions move much faster and give far less warning than our relatively slow moving Pu'u O'o. No one can really afford to lose their home to a natural disaster, but people regularly suffer from tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and wildfires, just to name a few. Those possible natural disasters are not used as excuses for refusing services to populations living there, why should Pu'u O'o? Puna is not going to magically turn the clock back to pre-statehood status, land is zoned for people to live on it, lots have been platted and sold, and people do and will continue to live here, all the nostalgia in the world isn't going to change that, it is time to move forward and quit letting that nostalgia hold a large underserved population hostage.
"I understand that a lot of people bought in Puna because the lots were/are cheaper. My response to that is: if they couldn't afford to purchase a more expensive home outside of a high lava flow hazard zone, can those same people any more afford to lose their home to a lava flow in the "less expensive" area?"
Those expensive properties in Hilo and Kona are also on live volcanoes, so they are also at risk. Take your pick, Kilauea, Mauna Loa or Hualalai, any of them is ripe for eruption and West side eruptions move much faster and give far less warning than our relatively slow moving Pu'u O'o. No one can really afford to lose their home to a natural disaster, but people regularly suffer from tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and wildfires, just to name a few. Those possible natural disasters are not used as excuses for refusing services to populations living there, why should Pu'u O'o? Puna is not going to magically turn the clock back to pre-statehood status, land is zoned for people to live on it, lots have been platted and sold, and people do and will continue to live here, all the nostalgia in the world isn't going to change that, it is time to move forward and quit letting that nostalgia hold a large underserved population hostage.